BOWERS & Pitsea boss Rob Small was absolutely delighted to see both strikers get on the scoresheet in an opening day win at Aveley.

Fahad Nyanja and a brace from Lewis Manor enabled Bowers to secure a 3-1 win in the Millers’ first competitive clash at their new Parkside home.

And Small was pleased with the contribution of his frontmen after seeing the likes of Brad Warner and David Knight depart during the summer.

Small said: “It’s been a long summer, where we lost players we didn’t want to go, but we have kept going.

“It’s only the first game, but it feels great to have won.

“(Assistant manager) Mark Ashford is pleased with himself because he thinks he has taught Lew to head the ball properly!

“Lew is a top centre forward and he just needs to add more goals to his game.

“We decided that rather than looking elsewhere we just had to help him become more of a goalscorer because he is such a good player.

“Fahad also popped up with a header at the back post, so we scored with three headers.

“Getting crosses into the box was part of our game plan so we are obviously very pleased that we came out on top.”

Both sides struggled to create clear-cut opportunities in a quiet first half.

But Nyanja broke the deadlock after heading home a James Thomas cross 10 minutes after the interval.

And Bowers doubled their lead on 66 minutes.

Tony Stokes, who joined Bowers during the close season from Concord Rangers, sent a dangerous cross into the Aveley penalty area and Manor outmuscled his man before finding the corner of the net with a powerful header.

But just four minutes after going two goals down, the Millers halved the deficit. New Aveley captain Jack Barry’s pull-back found Jordan Peart, who beat Callum Chafer.

However, Bowers sealed the points with nine minutes to play.

Manor diverted a Lewis Clark throw-in beyond ex-Bowers goalkeeper Rhys Madden.

Bowers & Pitsea: Chafer, Hine, Nyanja (Cook 76’), Stokes, Clark, Leahy, Thomas, Salmon, Manor (Perry 90’), Sartain, Stokes (Brown 80’)